208 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



described as having been somewhat shady, so to speak; 

 he is hastily disposed of, amidst the derisive shouts of 

 the audience, and the vivid flame of some fulminating 

 material which adds solemnity to the scene. Then 

 follows the boulanger who has been selling inferior 

 bread, the butcher convicted of short weight, the tailor 

 addicted to cabbage, the drunkard who has passed his 

 days at L'Assommoir, who, when consigned to the 

 shades below, goes off with a bang and an amount of 

 blue light that is a moral in itself ; the cure who has 

 disgraced his religion, the lady of fashion who has 

 degraded her order all these puppets being intro- 

 duced by a marvellously clever little devil, himself a 

 puppet too, whose antics delighted the beholders 

 beyond measure. Then came what I suppose was an 

 allegorical piece of business, Time rowing Cupid across 

 the Styx; but in an instant the proceeding is reversed, 

 and Time is rowed back with haste. I presume this 

 meant that the blind god is not to be got rid of even 

 by Time, being immortal, as we have always under- 

 stood him to be. Whether or no such an exhibition 

 is moral, and calculated to improve the mind, I decline 

 to say ; but at any rate it was very droll indeed. 



After this, attracted by a very clever wind-inflated 

 figure of Punch, I paid my two sous and entered in. 

 This was a somewhat disappointing exhibition, con- 

 sisting of three dozen monkeys of different sizes, 

 passing through a doll's house, on which was written 

 "Hotel des Singes,". or huddling and gibbering in the 

 corner. 



After this I was specially attracted by a show 

 entitled te Le Bagne." In the front were two life-sized 

 automatic figures, representing convicts, clothed in the 



